THE prosecution in the murder trial of Neil Entwistle, the 29-year-old Briton accused of murdering his American wife and baby daughter, intends to fly up to 28 British witnesses to Boston to testify about his behaviour in the days following his abrupt departure from America in January 2006.

The witnesses include seven police officers and a friend who was with Entwistle when he was arrested.

Prosecutors intend to argue that Entwistle’s actions after he fled Boston with a one-way air ticket on the morning after the murders are as indicative of his guilt as forensic and computer evidence that will be presented when his trial resumes in Wal-pole, Massachusetts, tomorrow.

During an extended jury selection process last week, prospective jurors were presented with a list of 163 potential witnesses to indicate if they knew any of the names. The list included the constables who arrested Entwistle at Royal Oak Underground station, and also his friend, Dashiel Munding, from Cornwall.

In opening statements on Friday, Michael Fabbri, a state prosecutor, said that when Munding told Entwistle police were coming to arrest him, “the defendant says something to the effect, ‘Is there another way out of this platform?’ ” Other British names on the list are understood to include a former girlfriend and several people Entwistle may have contacted during the three weeks in Britain before his arrest.

The unemployed computer pro-grammer from Worksop, Notting-hamshire, has pleaded not guilty to murder and gun charges. He claims to have returned to England in a panic after finding his wife, Rachel, and nine-month-old daughter, Lilian, dead in bed at their newly rented home in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.

Both had been shot with a single bullet from a .22 calibre pistol taken from the nearby home of Rachel’s parents.

Prosecutors claim that Entwistle’s comfortable suburban life was collapsing, and that he was heavily in debt, unhappy with his sex life and had been lying to his wife about his job prospects.

Entwistle’s lawyer, Elliott Weinstein, last week warned the jury not to jump to conclusions. “Over and over again at this trial, you will learn things are not the way they first may appear to be,” he said. Entwistle’s parents, Clif-ford and Yvonne, have flown from England to attend the trial, and said they believed him to be “100% innocent”.

Weinstein intends to question the DNA evidence allegedly showing Entwistle handled the murder weapon; to attack the credibility of a local pathologist who has since been barred from homicide cases; and to portray Entwistle as a loving husband who had no motive for murder.

Weinstein is also angry at the intense level of hostile public interest in the case, which is being televised live by a cable channel. At one point on Friday the proceedings were being broadcast on a split screen witha running commentary of e-mails from viewers, almost all of whom proclaimed Entwistle guilty.

British laws forbidding discussion of active court cases do not apply.

In Boston, the Entwistle case aroused memories of the 1997 trial of Louise Woodward, the British nanny convicted of involuntary manslaughter. “Is there something in the US water that makes Brits go bonkers?” wondered one contributor to a Boston Herald website discussion.

Several Britons joined in the discussion, some startled by the freedom of comment permitted in America. “There is no way UK readers would be able to comment on UK court stories while a trial is proceeding, it would certainly make a strong case for contempt,” noted one.

“In America we have ‘freedom of the press’,” retorted an American visitor. “Entwistle is as guilty as sin! Is he supposed to be too English and too proper to be a murderer?”

Legal experts have speculated that Weinstein may appeal any guilty verdict on the grounds that the trial should have been moved from the Boston area, where many locals are convinced of Entwistle’s guilt.

If found guilty, Entwistle faces life in prison without parole. Additional reporting: Beverly Ford, Boston

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